Original, photocopied, and transcribed materials pertaining to the family of Thomas Alexander Stewart and Frances Stewart. Included are correspondence (1869-1935; 1989); a family tree and genealogical material; paper titled “Selections from “Fragments That Remain”” by Alec Wilson; probate of the will of Thomas Alexander Stewart Brown (1937); conveyance Edward T. Brown to Thomas Alexander Stewart Brown (1880); a typescript list made from a 1789 sale notice of auction items belonging to James Frood; a colour copy of a sketch and map of the original Stewart home and early Douro Township; and typescripts of articles and diaries pertaining to Stewart family history and their settlement in Upper Canada.

This item is a letter written by Andrew Mather of Beadnell, 9th Concession, Otonabee Township to his son-in-law Jonathan MacDougall after the death of Mather's daughter. The letter outlines the opportunities open to MacDougall if he were to choose to settle in Otonabee Township. The letter also gives news of neighbours and friends. Included is a transcript and comments regarding MacDougall by Margaret Dunham Vanderploeg, great granddaughter of MacDougall.

This item is a pamphlet regarding the Brown Memorial rededication at Centenary Park in Peterborough, Ontario.

Edward Templeton Brown, grandson to Frances and Thomas Stewart, was born at Goodwood, the family farm in Douro Township, Canada West, on December 24, 1852 to Edward Wilson Brown and Elizabeth Lydia Stewart. In 1879 he went to the Northwest Territory to help survey Riding Mountain National Park. After the survey was completed he worked for the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1880 he joined a party, led by Major Boulton, heading for the Shell River area of western Manitoba to settle on land. He joined Boulton's Scouts and during the Battle of Batoche was killed in action on May 12, 1885. The community in Peterborough decided to raise a memorial stone to Edward Brown to commemorate his death in the Riel Uprising.

This 8-page, typewritten manuscript is entitled "Folk Songs of Peterborough" and consists of a brief overview of the folk song tradition of the Peterborough area. Fowke indicates that the Peterborough region is one of the richest in Ontario and credits this in large part to the significant Irish representation in the County. She mentions by name individuals who can sing old songs brought from the old country, or songs learned in the lumbering shanty and carried down from generation to generation. She quotes songs that give specific reference to places such as Kinmount, Omemee, Gannon's Narrows, Tory Hill, etc. Farming traditions, love ballads, and jail terms all find their places in the canon.

This fonds includes the letters of Anna Leveridge, written to her mother and family friends in England, describing their boat trip to Canada and pioneer life in the backwoods of Hastings County, Ontario, near Coe Hill, Marmora, and Millbridge. The fonds also includes family genealogy and photographs.

This item is a genealogy of Samuel Strickland's descendents as compiled by Mr. Angus Baxter

This fonds consists of letters from a servant girl, Isabella Brownlie in Otonabee to her brother Claud in Scotland. After 1845, the letters are from Isabella and her husband James Miller. The fonds also contains two photographs, one of Isabella's brother, Claud Brownlie, with his wife, Elizabeth [Kendrick], and the second of Claud Brownlie alone, as well as a diploma for Thomas Menzies Miller, 1891.

This 73-page typewritten manuscript is an anecdotal record of the information McBain amassed about the properties in northeast Cavan Township. It includes a record of the hamlet of Springville west of the Cavan-Monaghan boundary and of Fairmount (formerly Morrow), a crossroads on the 12th Line, and references to Ida and Mount Pleasant on the middle road. There are in-depth references to properties and families on the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th lines east of the middle road to the Monaghan boundary.

Item is a letter dated 22 October 1853 from William Morrison, Placer County, California, to his brother, James Morrison, of Dummer Township, Ontario. The letter is written in a black paper covered booklet dated 1851 with the title "Gregory's Express Pocket Letter Book."

This item is a deed of the sale of land, 1861, to John Wilson, a yeoman of the Township of Manvers, in the County of Durham.

This addition to the fonds consists of 10 letters (some fragments) written by Frances Stewart to her granddaughter and relatives in England, concerning her pioneer life in the Peterborough area. There is also one photograph of Harriet as young child which was photographed in London, England (biographical information is written on the back of the photograph).

This addition to the fonds consists of two original letters written by Frances Stewart to relatives in Ireland. There is also an original invoice from a linen draper and haberdasher.

Item includes a collection of signatures, notes, and documents pasted into a copy of the "Annual Report on Normal, Model, Grammar and Common Schools...," 1857. Materials relate, for the most part, to the Bell and Canniff families of Thurlow Township, Hastings County. Other items of note include a document certifying parents' satisfaction with teacher Robert Laing, Big Island, 1817; a document relating to the building of a bridge across a creek in Thurlow Township, 1832; a notice regarding a meeting to elect officers for the formation of an agricultural society in Hastings County [Midland District Agricultural Society], 1830; and a declaration regarding Stephen Ferguson Bell who saw "a greate shooting of the stars... a continual shooting from the center of the Heavens in every direction," 1833.

This fonds consists of typed 7.5 X 13 cm cards with information copied from cemetery headstones in the Haileybury Cemetery. This was an Ontario Federation for Youth project organized in 1975.

This item is a magazine in tabloid newsprint format dealing with articles on Canadian history. This item is Vol.2, from November 10, 1978.

This document is a contract covering the sale of a lot in the Township of Zorra to Robert McKay, signed by Peter Robinson and dated 18 August 1835.

This accession consists of one dictionary, of which the title page is missing. The oldest date pencilled in appears to be 1780. Signatures include Robert Stewart, William Reid, Mary Stewart, and John Stewart. The dictionary, referred to as "Old Noah" by the Reid family, was passed down through several generations of Reid family. It originated in Ireland, and was brought to Canada by Robert and Maria Reid.

This accession consists of copy photographs, several of which are of originals in the Reid family photograph album and date from the 1840's to 1900's. One is of the Robert Henry "Harry" Devinish Reid family accompanied by an identification sheet with vital statistics for each member. Included also is a set of ten copy photographs of three generations of the Reid family. This set is accompanied by a family chart providing statistics for those listed.

Fonds consists of 3 letters written to Wilfrid M. Hueston, Maria and Willie [Hueston], and Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Hueston, of Thorndale, Ontario in 1918 and 1919. The letters refer to the influenza pandemic of 1917, and World War I.

Item is a photocopy of a 36-page unpublished typescript of the letters of Joseph Carrothers (1793-1870) and his brother Nathaniel (ca.1796-1881). The letters are dated 1839-1870 and were sent from London, Upper Canada to their father, William, in Enniskillen, Ireland.

The Irish emigrants' letters were posted mostly from Westminster, near London, Ontario, during the years 1839 to 1870. They were duplicated and bound by Edward Norman Carrothers of Belfast, Northern Ireland, for friends and relatives in Canada and Ireland. The authors of the letters, Joseph Carrothers (1793-1870) and Nathaniel Carrothers (ca.1796-1881), were brothers of Edward Norman Carrothers' grandfather, and the recipient of the letters was their father, William. The two brothers were born at Farnagh, Ireland. Nathaniel emigrated to Canada in [1835], and Joseph in 1847.

This item is a photocopy of a letter written by Isabella Carr to her sister, Mrs. Richard Bond of Lockport, New York. The letter was written in February, 1846. The letter gives news of family and neighbours and tells of an outbreak of measles.

This item is an affectionate letter written by John Black from [Stockton] to his wife, Catherine Black, living in Carleton Place, Upper Canada. Black expresses his sorrow at not being able to send money to his wife for such a long time. He indicates the "very hard winter" and problems at his workplace, a "shop in town" which builds wagons, as reasons for not having any money to send.

This item is a spiral bound, privately printed genealogy of the McIntyre family of Otonabee.

The fonds consists of the typescript memoirs of Minnie E. McHolm of her life in Frome, Somerset, England, to March 1913, then the memoirs of life as a domestic on the Canadian prairies, outside of Regina, to December 1920. The fonds also includes two booklets of Mrs. McHolm's poetry, The Indiscretion of Mary Jane and Sunset at Golden Hill. Additional material received in 2003 includes another book of poetry, Singing With a Swing, and newspaper clippings regarding Minnie McHolm. Also included are 2 Christmas cards featuring McHolm poems signed by Minnie McHolm and a newspaper obituary.

Fonds is a photocopy of a communication written to James F. Dennistoun, President of the Auburn Woollen Mills, dated September 6, 1882. It was written by the employees of the company who welcome Dennistoun back after a period away due to illness. They also express sincere thanks for the kindness and courtesy which he has always shown them. Among those who signed the letter is James Kendry, manager of the company.